Aurora is a warm, golden medium-dark brown with a soft champagne sheen. It has swirls of light yellow-toned pink, dirty olive brown, and red-brown. It’s on the sheer side when applied dry, but it’s more opaque when applied wet. Dior Aurora is slightly darker. Buxom Golden Retriever is a touch darker, more red-toned. MAC Heavenly Bliss is a bit lighter, less warm. MAC Love Connection is more frosted, so it looks a bit lighter and more metallic. Milani Fusion is slightly more metallic.

Bright Moon is a cool-toned silver-shimmered gray-blue. It has swirls of gray-blue, silver, and aqua-blue. When applied dry, it has good color payoff, and when it’s applied dry, it has better pigmentation and applies more smoothly. The metallic finish is more apparent when it is used wet. It looks just like MAC Frozen Blue, which might be a smidgen more silver, but they’re really close. Urban Decay Crystal is less blue.

Earthly is a gray-tinted medium-dark brown with a pearly metallic sheen. The swirls are gray-beige, copper, and dark brown. It has good color payoff both wet and dry. MAC Caviar Dreams is a bit darker. Bare Escentuals A-Ha is warmer, darker. MAC Magical Mist is similar but more subdued.

Invincible Light is a pale warm pink with a subtle golden shimmer. It’s pretty sheer when applied dry and better when applied wet, but it isn’t as smooth as I’d like–slightly gritty. It has swirls of ivory, copper, pink, and lavender. MAC Star Crystal is grayer. Bobbi Brown Black Ruby is pinker.

Magnetic Attraction is a coppery coral-red with subtle golden shimmer. It has decent to good pigmentation when used dry (it looks more orange), and great color payoff when used wet. It has swirls of raspberry pink, golden yellow, and coppery orange. MAC Spicy Smoke is more intense. Milani I Heart You is redder. MAC In the Sun is darker, browner. MAC Red Hot Copper is similar but darker. MAC Coppering is more intense.

Neo Nebula is a slightly mauve-y pink with a metallic finish. It has swirls of light pink, medium warm pink, and mauvy plum. When used dry, it’s very sheer, but when used wet, it’s smoother and more pigmented. MAC Rose Light is slightly pinker. Inglot #399 is pinker and darker. Giorgio Armani #7 is more muted. MAC Pink Union is slightly more purple and darker. MAC Circa Plum is darker, grayer.

Sky is a faded blue with a hint of green with a green-gold shimmer. It has swirls of light-medium green, electric blue, and cobalt blue. The color payoff is sheer when used dry, and it’s better when wet, but it’s still not fully opaque. Urban Decay Shattered is a bit more teal. Guerlain Les Ombres de Nuit doesn’t have the same gold shimmer.

Universal Appeal is a smoky eggplant purple with golden shimmer. It has swirls of yellowy green, dark brown, orange, and purple. When applied dry, it’s very brown and on the sheer side, while when wet, it takes on a purple hue. MAC Azuki Bean is a smidgen darker. theBalm Curvy Cami is purpler.

Water is a dark but muted blue-green. It has swirls of yellowy chartreuse, chartreuse, mint green, and navy blue. The color payoff is atrocious when used dry, and it’s decent when used wet. Illamasqua Android is much more opaque and intense. Urban Decay Hijack is more opaque and intense. Urban Decay Loaded is more intense, more blackened in base color.

Whenever I have Mineralize Eyeshadows to review, I think it’s important disclose that I generally do not have a lot of success with them. They always look absolutely phenomenal in the pan; they’re amazing products to photograph, but application tends to be disappointing. I know that there are readers who, on the other hand, enjoy these eyeshadows immensely and look forward to the mineralize-themed collections that MAC puts out. The reasons I don’t like these is: lack of color payoff, fall out, and poor wear (fading/creasing, mostly fading). Not all shades perform the same; some are better, some are way worse.

I did three looks, where I used three shades for each one. When I wore Bright Moon, Sky, and Earthly together, they held up so-so over time. There was noticeable fading, slight creasing with Bright Moon after six hours, while Sky was less faded and no real creasing to speak off. Earthly was fairly faded. I had about the same results whether I applied over bare lids or over a primer (NARS Smudgeproof). Sky stains the lid, even when used over a primer.

When I wore Magnetic Attraction, Aurora, and Water in a look, they, too, held up okay but not well. Magnetic Attraction was the best, with only minor fading but no creasing after eight hours. Aurora was looking faded after eight hours, while Water was barely visible–not to mention it was such a pain to apply and to get to show up at all from the very beginning. The texture and feel of Water just didn’t work well; it was a little gritty and dry. The wear didn’t seem to improve with or without a primer; both were in the same state after eight hours. Water also stains the skin, just as a heads up.

The last trio I used included Invicible Light, Neo Nebula, and Universal Appeal. Invincible Light is very prone to fall out, and it can accentuate any texture on the lids, because it doesn’t apply smoothly. I was able to get plenty of color out of it by using it wet, but it did have some of its own problems. Neo Nebula and Universal Appeal were easier to use on the lid. However, the whole look lasted about five hours and had nearly disappeared after eight hours–and the photos are of the shades over primer (and the eye without primer looked the same).

It’s a shame that there were wear issues with these. I thought a lot of these were more blendable this time around than in previous releases. Some shades had decent to good color payoff when dry, as well as wet. None of it lasted a full eight hours, though, and some were nearly gone entirely after eight hours. I don’t know if there are many products that I’m as desperate to fall in love with as MAC’s Mineralize Eyeshadows. They look gorgeous in their pots. They’re absolutely stunning to behold. I know people love them. I want to love them, but I just can’t.